Impact: Voice

“Johns Hopkins was a man of vision, insisting that nurses were an essential part of health care at a time when they were considered much less.”

When we reach historical milestones, it is great fun to look back at where nursing was, assess where it has been, and set a course for where it’s going. Our great benefactor Johns Hopkins was a man of vision, insisting that nurses were an essential part of health care at a time when they were considered much less. But if he could have seen what we see, the impact his decisions have made, Johns Hopkins would have been as amazed as anyone at what nurses have done with his gift and his vote of confidence.

This issue, which marks the 130th year of Johns Hopkins Nursing, is about the impact nurses continue to have, about responsibilities they embrace in areas—Politics, Ethics, Business, Reach—he could have scarcely imagined their presence. It is an extraordinary time to be a nurse. It always has been, of course, but the avenues open to our highly motivated, incredibly skilled nurses today would have been unimaginable even to us mere decades ago. We have built this opportunity for ourselves. Our impact as nurses has never been greater. What a thrill to be on the leading
edge of such change.